[TV MAN]

Ok here it is!   I have been playing around with this amp and doing some experiments. I bought a set of Bose Acoustimass 5 speakers and set it up on my shelf over my bench.
   
I chose this system for several reasons. I didn't have room (or room in my wallet) for a nice set of Bozak speakers. Maybe someday... I know these are really home theater speakers, but I have heard them play and thought they sounded pretty good. I found these for less than $100. The satellite speakers sit on my shelf nicely and take up little space, and the (passive) subwoofer fits perfect under my bench, again taking up very little space. I don't know for sure, but I am guessing it uses a dual voice coil sub (I guess it could have 2 drivers). It worked so I didn't mess with it. But, someday, curiosity may overcome me and I will get out the screwdriver

Ok, so how does it sound? Well, in a nutshell, GREAT! I have it connected to a cd/FM Walkman type player with no EQ or tone control of any kind. I really don't need it with this great little setup. How loud? Well, as I mentioned earlier, this little amp rocks! No, it doesn't bass things off the shelves, but it does thump! Way better than I would ever have expected. Clean? Yep, I don't detect any distortion at any volume level. No, I haven't cranked it to that point either and don't plan to. But, it is loud. I don't detect any hum either, even when I put my ear up to the speakers. I also noticed these Bose speakers don't seem to pull on the amp. It doesn't struggle a bit.

I may eventually get a real preamp, like a PAT4 Dyna or something small and affordable to have tone controls and inputs for testing tuners and such on the bench. I wanted to run it for awhile before doing a write up on it. I do have an audio generator now that I may connect along with a scope and run the ranges to see how linear this amp really is. I am rather curious.

I did axe the original China made 6SN7GT tubes for noise reasons. One simply liked to hum, and the other liked to make funny noises. I settled on a set of older Sylvania tubes that I think sound great. Quiet and clean.    
   
   

Here are my sentiments so far on this amp project: The good...
1. It is a nice kit, and with a good set of instructions, very easy to build and enjoyable
2. It sounds good and clean
3. Hard to beat for the price
4. Decent output tubes come with kit
5. Comes well packed
6. Simple design, no PC boards

Ok, now the bad...
1. Factory documentation is non existent.
2. Chinese preamp tubes poor quality. You'll want to put in some NOS 6SN7GTs.
3. I don't like how they assemble in pictures (which is why I redesigned it)
4. Lousy speaker binding posts. Get a good set before you even try to install.